Deidara
DeidaraThird Databook, pages 104-108 (デイダラ, Deidara) is an S-rank missing-nin from Iwagakure. During his time there he was a member of the village's Explosion Corps. After defecting from the village, he joined the Akatsuki and is one of its youngest members. There he was partnered with Sasori until the latter's death, and later with Tobi. Background During his time as an Iwagakure shinobi, Deidara was a pupil under the Third Tsuchikage: Ōnoki. He possesses the Explosion Release kekkei genkai which enabled him to become a member of the Explosion Corps.Naruto chapter 526, page 12 Though praised highly for his clay sculptures, Deidara's desire to reach even greater heights in his art, resulted with him stealing a kinjutsu that allows one to knead their chakra into substances.Third Databook, pages 104-108 Using explosive clay to take out his pursuers, Deidara found the art he had desired: the Art of a Single Moment (一瞬の芸術, Shunshin no Geijutsu).Third Databook, pages 104-108 In the anime, Deidara left Iwagakure in shambles by blowing up several structures in the village.Naruto: Shippūden episode 261 Remembering the first moment whenever he detonated his Explosive Clay since then, Deidara became a missing-nin and offered his services as a bomber to insurgents in various countries.Third Databook, pages 104-108 Ōnoki was sort of a teacher to Deidara, though he often implied that Deidara's ideologies and fighting style annoyed him, he was still proud of him. Deidara wasn't afraid of Ōnoki's unpleasant nature, or his techniques at all, once again irritating his sensei. Deidara also noted that Ōnoki hates art, possibly because he ridiculed his Explosive Clay artwork. Deidara's exploits eventually caught the attention of the Akatsuki, with Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Sasori sent to recruit him after Orochimaru left their organisation. Deidara refused at first until he willingly accepted a challenge from Itachi on the condition that the Akatsuki let him be if he won. However, Deidara was defeated by Itachi's Sharingan and joined the Akatsuki as part of the deal. His ego crushed since then because he admitted to himself while still hypnotized that the Sharingan was a work of art. Deidara carried a murderous loathing for Itachi and the Sharingan for the rest of his life.Naruto chapter 359, pages 5-15 Although he is intelligent enough to recognise Itachi as a more powerful opponent, Deidara took steps during his time with the Akatsuki to get revenge on Itachi, such as training his left eye to counter genjutsu,Naruto chapter 360, page 17 and devising the means to create C4.Naruto chapter 360, page 1 Personality During his partnership with Sasori, Deidara usually showed a cool and relaxed attitude, never losing his smirk even while fighting an intense battle or when being blamed by his partner. However, his personality seemed to change to some extent after being partnered with Tobi, as he would easily get mad at his partner’s childish and sometimes disrespectful behavior. He also has something of a sadistic arsonist nature, rather he is not above enjoying a good fight, and he often blows up his opponents in a very brutal fashion. Deidara's most distinctive trait, however, is his love of art. He would respect any form of it, even if it disagrees with his own. Deidara also has a habit of ending his sentences with nasal-like grunts (…うん, …''un''), roughly translated as "yeah" or "hm". The latter of which is used in the VIZ version. Deidara also seems to respect the ideals of others as he allowed Gaara to move the sand he used to protect his village into the desert before kidnapping him, even going so far as to admiringly call him noble. Deidara refers to his explosive ninjutsu as art, usually quoting "Art is an Explosion!" (芸術は爆発だ, Geijutsu wa Bakuhatsu da) and seeing each bomb he makes to be a significant accomplishment. He refers to his style as superflat (referring to certain types of art), and claims pop (another art style) is dead.Naruto chapter 358, page 3 Deidara's pride as an artist makes him simply unwilling to accept that anything could defeat it, leaving him to abandon strategy in favour of tactics that let him show off his work. He is able to recognize stronger opponents like Itachi, although he feels the Sharingan to be not artistic and despises him and his younger brother. Deidara referred to his partner Sasori as Master Sasori (サソリの旦那, Sasori no Danna; English TV "Sasori, my man"), out of respect for him as a fellow artist. He also admitted, at least outwardly, that Sasori was more powerful than he is.Naruto chapter 265, page 11 In spite of this, Deidara wasn't above goading his partner, and they frequently argued over the nature of true art (Deidara holding that art is what lasts within a moment while Sasori believing fine art is something that lasts for all time).Naruto chapter 264, page 7 This reflected their individual fighting styles (Deidara makes clay sculptures that explode; Sasori made long-lasting puppets out of humans). Deidara outwardly seems to respect Sasori's beliefs, but couldn't resist getting a final jab in after Sasori's death.Naruto chapter 277, page 14 Deidara's partnership with his second partner, Tobi, however, was very different. Tobi apparently held a great respect for Deidara, and frequently called him "senpai" (先輩, senior). The idiotic front Tobi put up greatly irritated Deidara, who believes that all Akatsuki members should be calm, talking less and acting serious.Naruto chapter 318, page 6 This in turn results in unintentionally angering Deidara to attack Tobi in a comedic fashion (e.g. blasting him with his explosive clay or strangling him with his legs).Naruto chapter 318, page 6 Naruto chapter 281, page 16; (The first sentence refers to Buddha's patience.) But in battle, Deidara puts his issues with Tobi aside to worked well with him, telling him to get away when he was about to do a more dangerous attack.Naruto chapter 357, page 11 Deidara also seemed to have a minor sense of appreciation for Tobi, as shown when he apologised to his partner in his thoughts before he initiated his self-destruction technique.Naruto chapter 362, page 13 Appearance Deidara has slanted blue eyes and very long blond hair which he wears drawn into a half ponytail with the rest hanging down freely. The bang hanging over his left eye is what conceals his scope signifying that he is a long-range fighter, but, as shown in his fight with Sasuke, it is not permanently attached to his face. His left eye can see through genjutsu as he trained it to after his fight with Itachi. He also has mouths in each of the palms of his hands which are for moulding his clay and under his cloak he wore a utility belt with two bags where he carries all of his clay. Deidara had one of his arms crushed by Gaara's sand,Naruto chapter 248, page 19 and the elbow of his other arm was blown into another dimension by Kakashi's Kamui.Naruto chapter 276, page 9 Deidara had his arms restored by having Kakuzu sew what was left of his arms with what appears to be a transplanted arm.Naruto chapter 332, page 6Naruto chapter 359, page 5 His transplant is dark brown and has several wrinkles on it.Naruto: Shippūden episode 123Under his cloak, he wears a V-neck, sleeveless, midriff shirt with mesh armour underneath it along with pants, stirrups, and sandals. On his chest he has a large, stitched-up mouth for setting off his self-destruct technique. On his right index finger is his Akatsuki ring, which bores the kanji for Blue or Green (青, ao) and is teal in colour. He wears black nail polish on his fingers and toes. Abilities Deidara is a very powerful S-rank missing-nin whose abilities earns him recognition within Akatsuki, even being praised by the leader, Pain, who openly admitted that he is something unique, and that his loss would have been a major blow to the group.Naruto chapter 363, page 9 Acting on his own, Deidara was able to fight and defeat Gaara, the host of Shukaku and Fifth Kazekage, one-on-one. One of his strong points is his intelligence, often using tricks, misdirection, and calculated gambles to get his explosives in range of an opponent, like he did in the fight against Gaara, putting clay into Gaara's sand as it destroyed his arm; however, Deidara's obsession with his art can make him give up on strategy in exchange for tactics that allow him to show off. As a long-range specialist, he is weaker in close combat, but skilled enough to fend off a close combat battle with specialists like Team Guy, despite having lost both of his arms prior to their confrontation (albeit he was completely on the defensive), using only a kunai in his mouth and he has a variety of techniques in his arsenal to escape close quarters when necessary. Deidara also has great endurance to pain, being able to keep focused after having both his arms torn off. Along with his endurance to pain, Deidara also has great physical strength, able to pull himself free from Gaara's chakra-infused sand and sever what was left of his arm at the same time. Nature Transformation Explosive Clay Deidara possesses the Explosion Release kekkei genkai. This allows him — by simultaneously using two (currently unknown) chakra natures, to give his chakra explosive qualities. Deidara also possesses special mouths in the palms of his hands and on the left side of his chest as a result of stealing a powerful kinjutsu from his village. By commonly using these two special abilities in unison, he can create explosive clay: clay infused with his explosive chakra that detonates with the command Katsu (喝) and the seal of confrontation. This clay can be moulded into a wide variety of shapes and forms, growing to large sizes when infused with chakra (with Deidara performing the necessary hand seals), and can be controlled at will. This allows him to create living explosives to attack opponents at long-range. Deidara can even create clones from the clay and named Suicide Bombing Clones, that can be a deadly surprise for opponents. Deidara's clay creations range from microscopic to gigantic in size, allowing him to adapt to any situation. Deidara can also use the clay for other purposes, as he is frequently seen creating birds to be used for transportation. These birds can also be used to easily infiltrate villages on missions.Naruto chapter 248, page 7 It seems he also knows standard earth-based techniques, as shown from his Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, which he used to avoid damage from one of his mass-scale bombs.Naruto chapter 280, page 16 However, he could potentially run out of clay if he uses too much of it, leaving him vulnerable. Since all of his explosives are earth-based, they are vulnerable to lightning, and most can thereby be defused with lightning-based attacks.Naruto chapter 361, pages 16-17 Eye Enhancement Deidara wears a scope on his left eye for long-range observation, and he had trained the eye itself to counter genjutsu, allowing him to see through and negate them. When he does this, his pupil contracts.Naruto chapter 360, pages 11, 16-17 This training was done in order to counter Itachi's powerful genjutsu skills, of which he has a considerable loathing, and wishes to defeat if he got the chance.Naruto chapter 360, page 17 Deidara seems to be able to see long distances without his scope. He still needs to close his right eye in order to use his left eye for long distance vision. Stats Part I Sasuke Retrieval Arc At the end of Part I, Deidara made a cameo appearance as a silhouette during an Akatsuki gathering where they discussed Orochimaru's taking of Sasuke Uchiha as well as the capturing of the Nine-Tails and the furthering of their plans. Part II Kazekage Rescue Arc Deidara, with Sasori, travelled to Sunagakure to capture Gaara so the Akatsuki can extract Shukaku the One-Tail from him. Getting passed gate security with the help of Sasori's sleeper agent Yūra, taking out any guards watching the sky, Deidara found that the village was artistically worthy of being blown up. Despite the stealthy infiltration, Deidara was quickly confronted by Gaara, who knew he was in the village due to the clay bird he was flying on not matching any species native in the Land of Wind. Deidara was then forced into taking up the defensive, seeing Gaara's abilities to make his opponent worthy of him using his artistic ninjutsu on. Nearly being trapped in a prison of sand pulled from the surrounding desert, Deidara ended up losing his left arm trapped in some of the sand from Gaara's gourd, forcing Deidara to pull what remained of it off to prevent the sand from crushing the rest of him. Seeing that he was nearly out of clay, Deidara hatched a plan that would end the fight: Using a C3 bomb on the village as a decoy with Gaara left defenseless in his act to protect Sungakure for Deidara to use a clay bird. Though Gaara's sand stops the scheme, Deidara reveals that some of the clay in the arm Gaara took had mixed with his sand. Detonating the clay as Gaara uses his ultimate defense, Deidara abducts his unconscious opponent with Kankurō in pursuit before Sasori gives Deidara time to escape. After waiting for Sasori, Deidara headed out with him to one of their hideouts in the Land of Rivers to extract Shukaku with the rest of the Akatsuki. When Team Kakashi and Team Guy were announced to be on their way to save Gaara, Deidara couldn't help but feel embarrassed about his lack of stealth in capturing Gaara. When Team Kakashi arrived at their location, Deidara was given a meagre clue from Itachi as to what the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is like - the one who barges in and barks first. To test Itachi's clue, he sat on Gaara's corpse while waiting for the team, to see which of the shinobi gave a response first. This worked and Deidara, taking advantage of this, left with Gaara's body in order to lead away the jinchūriki, leaving Sasori to deal with Sakura and Chiyo. He was set on capturing Naruto to help him in his quest for greater stimulation to his art sense as he found Naruto to be "a canvas worthy of my artistry". Deidara noticed that Naruto was an extraordinary jinchūriki and felt more interested in fighting him than Kakashi Hatake. He tried to separate Naruto from Kakashi so he could fight Naruto and capture him with several different tactics, but ended up failing each time. Kakashi tried decapitating Deidara, but only managed destroying his other arm, giving Naruto a chance to retrieve Gaara and knock Deidara into the forest. Handicapped, Deidara was taken by surprise when Naruto appeared behind him and pushed him to the ground, repeatedly pummelling him without rest. Right before Naruto could kill him with a Rasengan; Deidara managed to switch himself with a Clay clone and hid in a near-by bush. He watched in amazement as Naruto's anger caused him to enter a two-tailed form before Kakashi reverted it and Chiyo and Sakura arrived. Knowing Sasori must be dead, Deidara could only get in the last laugh about his partner as he prepared to leave. He was caught by Team Guy and forced to flee as he was now heavily outnumbered. Upon remembering his clay bird was still around, Deidara bit off some of it and used another substitution, allowing a Suicide Bombing Clone to take his place in an attempt to both kill his enemies and flee. Some time later, he emerged from the ground, battered and weakened, but still alive. Lamenting that even his exploding clone failed, Deidara decided to seek out his severed arm before it began to rot. A bit later, he met Tobi and Zetsu who had found his severed appendage. Though Zetsu wondered why he did not capture Naruto, Deidara defended himself, saying that his quota had been fulfilled. He then comically tried to choke Tobi to death after being accidentally insulted three times by him. At some point in time later, Deidara had what was left of his right arm sewn back on by Kakuzu along with a new left arm to replace the one Gaara had crushed. Hidan and Kakuzu arc Deidara was present during the sealing of the Two-Tails. Three-Tails Arc Deidara appeared later, with his arms successfully reattached by Kakuzu. In the anime, he and his new partner, Tobi, found that their next mission was to capture the Three-Tails. Along the way, they took a break at a nearby dango shop. Deidara also showed an interest in what Tobi looked like behind his mask, only for him to be tricked by Tobi to look away for a moment. After a short fight between the two due to Tobi's antics, they split up to seek out the beast. Later, Deidara snuck up on and killed two Konoha ANBU, who were sending a report on the Three-Tails back to the vilalge. Tobi congratulated Deidara, and they headed towards the lake. Deidara commented that, since Tobi was now a part of Akatsuki, he should be able to capture the beast himself. Frightened by the huge beast and its devastating powers, Tobi ran away with the beast chasing after him. Deidara sent an explosive clay fish into the lake which detonated, taking down the beast and allowing Tobi to capture it. Surprised by the defeated beast, Tobi gloated that he did it with a special technique of his, not realising that it was Deidara's explosive clay that did it. Tobi later fell asleep while Deidara was speaking to him, which prompted an angry Deidara to exploding clay next to Tobi, frightening him. Itachi Pursuit Arc After sealing the Four-Tails, Deidara learned that Naruto and the Eight-man Squad were searching for Itachi and Sasuke. When Naruto was mentioned, he openly said that he held a grudge against Naruto when he punched him in the face, and for disrespecting his art. He also heard about the death of former Akatsuki member, Orochimaru. Having wanted to kill Orochimaru himself, Deidara and Tobi sought out Orochimaru's killer: Sasuke Uchiha, the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha. When they finally found Sasuke, Tobi assisted in Deidara's assault against him. Deidara attempted to attack from above using a bomb, but Sasuke used Hidden Shadow Snake Hands to wrap himself with a snake as a shield. Tobi also attempted an attack, but he was scared of Sasuke, and fled from him. Deidara told Tobi he was to handle Sasuke, and tested him with C1 grade fleas. Sasuke used the Chidori Senbon to stop the bombs. He then jumped behind Deidara, who used a bomb to distance himself. But Sasuke managed to avoid the bomb. Realising Sasuke's abilities, Deidara used C2 next, and summoned a clay dragon as a battle partner. The dragon then regurgitated a cluster of land mines to which Tobi said they were going with "that". Sasuke attacked with Chidori Sharp Spear, but Deidara was out of range. While Sasuke was busy with Deidara, Tobi planted the latter's mines around the field. Deidara sent a new C2 bomb after Sasuke, and he activated his Cursed Seal level 2 to block the blast (at the cost of one of his wings). He shot two giant shuriken at Deidara. Deidara avoided them, but Sasuke attached wires to them. They impaled Deidara's arms against the dragon, and Sasuke flew up with his Chidori sword and severed one of the dragon's wings off. Deidara fell to the ground toward his land mines which subsequently destroyed the dragon. Tobi cried out for Deidara, but Deidara (who earlier had dislodged the shuriken and was now safely atop one of his clay birds) told him to be quiet. He looked into Sasuke's Sharingan and remembered when he had first seen them in Itachi. Angered that Sasuke, like Itachi, refused to acknowledge his art, Deidara used C4 — his most powerful explosive — ingesting the clay with his own mouth and spewing out a giant replica of himself. Believing himself to be victorious as Sasuke disintegrated into nothing, Deidara is shocked to realise that he had been placed under a genjutsu. Attacking Deidara with the Chidori, Sasuke seemingly pierces Deidara through the chest but this is revealed to be a clay clone as the real Deidara emerges from below and explains that he had trained his left eye to counter genjutsu. Enveloping Sasuke in another clone, Deidara prepares a homing bomb to detonate his C4 creation while he falls through the air. Sasuke, however, is able to escape and protect himself with his Chidori Current. He then jumped right next to Deidara and punched him. Realising that Deidara was out of chakra and could not get up, Sasuke asked where Itachi was but Deidara refused to answer, and attacked Sasuke again, but it was nullified and Sasuke collapsed of exhaustion. Deidara became enraged due to Sasuke's indifference to his art, and in a last, manic effort to defeat him, released the mouth located on his chest and turned himself into a bomb in a suicide attempt to kill Sasuke. However, Sasuke summoned the giant snake Manda, whom he used as a shield from the blast, and teleported himself to safety, at the cost of Manda's life. As revealed shortly after, though unknown to many, Deidara did survive from his C0/CO attack, as Korotsuchi (his childhood friend) had been made aware of the battle near it's end. Preventing his death with a technique originating from Iwagakure known as "Time Destruction (時間の破壊 Jikan no Hakai)" with this technique, Deidara was launched out of the C0 bomb blast right in the nick of time, while at the same time the bomb blast succeeded to take out nearly the whole forest. After hearing news of Deidara using his suicide technique, Pain instructed that the other members mourn for Deidara, until Korotsuchi brought an alive Deidara back to Akatsuki's whereabouts. Pain then commented that his loss would have been huge blow to the organisation. Video Games Deidara is a playable character in the followin video games: Additional Appearances Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden, chapter 16 Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden, episode 30 Trivia *Deidara's catch phrase was originally coined by famous Japanese abstract artist Tarō Okamoto, whose works, and words inspire many of Deidara's explosives. *Deidara ranked 3rd in one official character popularity poll shortly after his debut, one rank above Naruto. He also ranked higher than any other member of Akatsuki (though at the point that poll was taken, only about half of Akatsuki's members were formally introduced). *Unknown to him, his second partner, Tobi, has the kekkei genkai he despises: the Sharingan. *Deidara was apparently very curious as to what was behind Tobi's mask, as when they stopped to eat dango during the Three-Tails Arc, he began to tense up when Tobi began to remove his mask to eat. *Deidara's characteristic "katsu" (喝), which he uses to detonate his explosive clay, is a type of shout that is used in Zen Buddhism to stop the discursive thoughts of practitioners, potentially helping them achieve an enlightenment experience. It is also used as a means of focusing energy. *According to the databook(s): **Deidara had completed 82 official missions in total: 4 D-rank, 27 C-rank, 35 B-rank, 13 A-rank, 3 S-rank.(As of the time frame of ch. 362. Now would be much more.) **Deidara's hobby is experimenting with explosions. **Deidara wishes to fight Itachi Uchiha. **Deidara's favourite food is bakudan, a pun on the actual food (boiled eggs in surimi) and the Japanese word meaning bombs. **Deidara's least favourite food is mixed rice/pilaf. **Deidara's favourite phrase is "Art is an Explosion!" (芸術は爆発だ, Geijutsu wa Bakuhatsu da). *When news of Deidara using his C0 technique reach the rest of Akatsuki, Pain instructs the other members to mourn him quietly amongst themselves, until Korotsuchi brought an alive Deidara to the hideout. Pain commented that his loss would've been a major blow to the group.Naruto chapter 363, page 9 *Tobi commented that Deidara would die from an explosion,Naruto chapter 359, page 3 while Sasori said that he was the type to die young.Naruto chapter 359, page 11 Deidara would later self-destruct with a massive explosion , as a last ditch effort to kill Sasuke. *He referred to his previous partner Sasori as Master Sasori (サソリの旦那, Sasori no Danna; English TV "Sasori, my man"), but Sasori was not the only person that Deidara called with this title: in Naruto: Shippūden episode 18 and in an omake for this episode, Deidara referred Kisame as "Kisame no Danna" as well. *Despite Iwagakure ridiculing his artistic values and his subsequent defection from the village, Deidara has earned some respect from certain high-ranking villagers, as Kurotsuchi called him "Deidara-nii" (an honourific meaning "big brother", either as family or a sign of respect). Quotes *(Catchphrase) "Art is an explosion!"Naruto chapter 248, page 6 *(Before killing the Suna guards) "Look at those fools. They have no appreciation for art. You have to feel art. And true art... is an EXPLOSION!"Naruto chapter 248, page 5 *(To Sasori) "Fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion."Naruto chapter 264, page 7 *(To Tobi, after he mocked how Deidara had lost his arms) "Tobi, after three times, even a Buddha's face... One more word and there'll be no doubt about the cause of your death."Naruto chapter 281, page 16; (The first sentence refers to Buddha's patience.) *(To Sasuke) "You think you're so cool! And those eyes make me sick!! Always judging me... and my art!! You have no appreciation of the beauty of my work... and it makes me want to kill you!!"Naruto chapter 362, pages 8-9 *(Last words to Sasuke) "Tremble! Be afraid! Recoil in despair! Cover in awe! And cry your heart out, because my art... is an EXPLOSION!"Naruto chapter 362, pages 15-16 References